


the women of the dark seas

by samthecelestial



Category: Original Work, the women of the dark seas
Genre: Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Lesbian Character, Magic, Mermaids, Set in the 1700s, drowing, mermaid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:39:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16128215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samthecelestial/pseuds/samthecelestial
Summary: It had always been common knowledge that women on ships were bad luck. That’s why sneaking onto The Wanderer was such a risk. I knew what happened. Women would go on the ships but never return. I had my suspicions that they were killed then thrown overboard. Or that whenever they found an island they would just drop the women off there. I just knew that women who went on boats were never heard from again. I knew the risks and yet I was sneaking onto the ship. I just had to know what happened to the women. I had heard about mermaids, beautiful creatures that lured men overboard and drowned them. But such things don’t exist, this is not a land of fairy tales and myths. This is a tale of drunken men who probably just fall off the boat and drown.i don't have an update schedule sorry





	1. chapter 1

It had always been common knowledge that women on ships were bad luck. That’s why sneaking onto The Wanderer was such a risk. I knew what happened. Women would go on the ships but never return. I had my suspicions that they were killed then thrown overboard. Or that whenever they found an island they would just drop the women off there. I just knew that women who went on boats were never heard from again. I knew the risks and yet I was sneaking onto the ship. I just had to know what happened to the women. I had heard about mermaids, beautiful creatures that lured men overboard and drowned them. But such things don’t exist, this is not a land of fairy tales and myths. This is a tale of drunken men who probably just fall off the boat and drown. 

I snuck onto the boat when nobody was looking and was currently hiding in the cargo hold. I could hear the men readying the ship and could feel the ship moving on the water. I could hear the anchor being hauled up and could feel as the anchor was brought upon the ship. How the ship sunk a little deeper from the added weight. I knew there was no turning back now. I knew what was going to happen to me, I knew I was going to die or at least never return to my home.  
I didn’t really have a home to return to if you think about it. My father taught me everything I need to know about living in a world where people like me are either abused or killed. I never knew my mother and my father had gone out to sea and never returned. The only person still taking care of me was myself. I didn’t really have anything to either run away from or to come back to. Even though I knew I was never coming back. No one was ever going to miss me or wonder where I’d gone. 

I sometimes wonder if part of the reason I’m going to sea is to find out more about my father, how he knew so much about the universe and why he’s not coming back. I sort of hope that I will find him out there is the big open expanse of sea. He has taught me everything I know about the sea and how to tell what is happening above me just from the sounds. He is the reason I feel so confident sneaking onto a ship where I will most certainly get killed. 

I have been on the ship for a couple weeks now, only surviving off of the food and the water in the cargo. Whenever anyone comes down I try and hide and make sure no one is sober enough to spot a woman hiding amongst the barrels of food and alcohol. I was getting tired of the food in the back of the ship where I was. I knew it was risky to go closer to the ladder to try and find some different food. When it was night and most of the crew was either sleeping or too drunk to notice I snuck to the front of the ship to see if there was any better food. Just as I was about to come out from my hiding spot someone started to descend down the ladder. I was in the middle of getting up so I had to stay exactly in the position that I was in so that the sailor didn’t notice me. My muscles were starting to hurt from staying the same position and from holding myself up. 

Don’t fall don’t fall don’t fall.

I could feel myself tiring out and starting to tip, the movement of the ship didn’t help my balance. I toppled over, luckily the sailor was turned the other way, I still crashed into three barrels of water and the noise alone was enough for him to notice me. I knew that I was going to get caught eventually and the reason that I got on the ship in the first place so was that I could find out was happened to the women found on ships. I just wasn’t sure I was ready to find out. 

The sailor came over to me grabbed my arm and hauled me up.

“What are you doing here. Sneaking onto my ship and eating all my food. How dare you?” said what I guessed was the captain, by the way, he said my ship.

“I’m sorry I just wanted to get away from my home and hopefully find a new place to settle down,” I lied. I knew what was coming, this is why I had come onto the ship in the first place. He hauled me up the ladder, I could feel his hands digging into my arm, it hurt but I dare not make a sound. Whatever they were about to do to me wasn’t going to get any better by me screaming. 

“Well you thought wrong, we do not take nicely to stowaways much less female stowaways. You have brought the ship bad luck and I have no choice but to throw you overboard.”

“You can’t do that I’ll die.”

“That’s the point sweetheart, I can’t have a woman bringing me misfortune.” once we got to the deck the captain tied me to a pole and went back down under the ship. I assumed to alert the rest of the crew. I struggled against the ropes even though I knew they were never going to break. I hear the awakening of the crew and slowly see them peep out and come up to the deck of the ship. 

“No wonder we couldn’t find any land there was a lady on the ship causing us to miss any land,” one crew member said.

“Tie up her legs so she can’t swim and make sure she sinks,” I was untied and I kept still. They tied my legs together then picked me up and threw me overboard.


	2. Chapter 2

It was so quick I heard the rush of wind as I flew over. I felt the ocean as hard as a rock as I hit it. There was nothing left to do except hope that death came quickly. Except that it didn’t I was pulled down to the bottom of the ocean and as I ran out of air I started to gulp in water. I couldn’t stop myself I needed air. I didn’t know what I expected when I drowned but I didn’t expect for it to go on as long. I would run out of air and I would struggle but then I would die. This is not what was happening, I sunk farther and farther down so that I could no longer see the light. Everything was darkness, there was no fish, there was no life. Except for me, a girl cursed to be drowning forever.  
At some point, I must have blacked out because I remember waking up to pain on the side of my neck.   
I was moving about trying to get to the surface. I breathed in even though I knew that nothing would come from it. The water burned my throat and I coughed trying to get the water out. The only thing that did was get rid of more air and letting more water in. I could feel the water sink into my lungs and it burned, I don’t understand what I did to deserve this never-ending suffering. I knew I had to open my eyes but my body had taken control. I was constantly coughing and gasping for air I knew that I should stop struggling because it was only making it worse. My throat was beginning to get sore. I could barely think, I knew there was something I needed to do but I couldn't remember. The last thing I remember before blacking out again was the pull of the current pulling me down.   
When I awoke I opened my eyes and even though it was dark I could see my legs tinted green. I reached down to touch them and they were slimy. The lack of air seemed no longer to bother me through my throat and lungs still burned. I must have been out for quite a while. The lack of a need for air allowed me to think and start to wonder what else has changed when I was blacked out. I felt around the rest of my body looking for any other changes. When I reached my neck I could feel flaps of skin and holes in my neck. However, they didn’t hurt and the salt water didn’t burn them. I wonder what could have done this to me? No animal would be stupid enough to only slash my neck and then leave and not kill me. That was another thing; why had I not yet been eaten by a shark or some other carnivorous animal.   
Something weird was going on and I wasn’t quite sure what. I wasn’t even sure how long it had been since I had been thrown overboard. There was no light to see if the environment of the ocean where I was had changed based on the seasons. Even if I could figure out how long I had been awake. I had no way to find out when or how long I had had been out.  
I knew I had tried to swim even though my legs were bound. I kicked my legs and it hurt like my legs were being ripped apart. I tried again and it hurt even more. I tried to move my legs individually and found that it hurt too. I wasn’t quite sure what to do because my whole existence was based on using my two legs. I tried to kick with both legs and I moved. It was a weird little movement and I didn’t really go anywhere but it was better than nowhere. I kicked again, this time in a more fluid motion, and moved about five feet. I did it again and again, slowly inching out of the depths of the ocean to the surface. I hadn’t seen sunlight or even light in so long that when I breached the surface I couldn’t open my eyes, the sun hurt my eyes. I slowly opened my eyes squinting at the light. As I got used to the light and my eyes hurt less I could see that I was in the middle of the ocean and there was no one around. No boats no land and nothing that could help me discern how long I had been under the sea.   
I dove back under the water and continued to swim. I didn’t know how long I would need to swim to find a ship or an island. I don’t think I would be able to walk on the island. I also was sure what I would say if I were to find a ship.   
“Hi, I’ve been drowning for a long time. What year is it?” That’s a great idea no one will think you’re crazy. It’s already weird that you are out in the middle of nowhere but if you say you’d surely be killed. Not to mention what they’d try to do to pry my legs apart. Finding a ship is not an option and neither was finding an island. I wasn’t quite sure what to do so I just kept swimming hoping that the water flowing past me would calm me down enough to think. There was always the possibility that mermaids were actually real. I had somehow turned into a botched version of the beautiful creature who hypnotized sailors with their beautiful voices to wreck their ships. No one ever told you if mermaids were born or made. And if I was a mermaid was my fate sealed to wreck ships or could I help some people. I could imagine that mermaids would be angry at the men that had thrown them overboard and cursed them to drown for what seemed like forever. However, I felt no anger towards them. I knew I was either going to get shot or get thrown overboard. I wanted to see what would happen and I didn’t blame them for being superstitious. However, I don’t think I could ever love anyone who fears women again.  
As I was swimming I noticed the beauty of the ocean. All the fish and the reefs bursting with life. There were so many different animals that all looked unique. It was nowhere near this beautiful above ground even in the middle of the forest far away from civilization. There were so many animals that once existed when I was a child but once I came back had vanished. But here so far out in the ocean where no man fished or poached, life was thriving. I wanted to stay out here forever where nothing had been discovered by cruel men who sought to hunt and kill every living thing on the planet. They had no remorse for the things that they killed or the way it would affect how the environment looked. All they cared about was the moose head on their wall and not what the moose contributed to the ecosystem. they only cared about money, they had let the greed consume them and had forgotten about their families and the beauty of nature they were tearing down.   
Thinking about how this beautiful ocean could be corrupted or changed for the worse just made me even sadder. I dove back under the water and continued to swim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t even started chapter 3 so that’s how the writings going. I have quite a lot going on but hopefully I’ll havs another chapter done by Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading i hope you like it so far.   
> i promise the next chapter is longer


End file.
